BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                       AB 1709|
          |Office of Senate Floor Analyses   |                              |
          |(916) 651-1520    Fax: (916)      |                              |
          |327-4478                          |                              |
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                                      CONSENT 


          Bill No:  AB 1709
          Author:   Gallagher (R), et al.
          Amended:  4/28/16 in Assembly
          Vote:     21 

           SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE:  7-0, 6/14/16
           AYES:  Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,  
            Wieckowski

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  78-0, 5/9/16 (Consent) - See last page for  
            vote

           SUBJECT:   Deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals


          SOURCE:    Author

          DIGEST:   This bill modernizes various codes referencing "deaf  
          or hearing impaired" individuals by replacing existing  
          references to "hearing impaired" with "hard-of-hearing."  This  
          bill also makes other technical and nonsubstantive changes to  
          those codes.  


          ANALYSIS:    Existing law references "deaf or hearing impaired"  
          individuals, and at times only "hard of hearing" individuals.   
          (Civ. Code Secs. 54.1, 54.2; Code Civ. Proc. Sec. 224; Ed. Code  
          Secs. 44265.6, 44265.8, 44265.9; Evid. Code Secs. 754 754.5;  
          Gov. Code Secs. 8593, 8593.2, 8840, 8841, 53112, 68560.5, 84507;  
          Health & Saf. Code Secs. 1259, 1373.65, 1568.02, 121369; Pen.  
          Code Sec. 13835.4; Pub. Util. Code Secs. 2881, 2881.1, 2881.2,  
          2881.4; Unemp. Ins. Code Secs. 11000, 11003, 11004; Welf. &  
          Inst. Code Secs. 10559, 10620, 10621, 10622, 10624, 10625.)










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          This bill:


          1)Updates the above sections to instead reflect the terminology  
            "deaf or hard of hearing," and to add reference to "deaf"  
            where existing law only mentions "hearing impaired," if  
            appropriate.  


          2)Makes other technical and nonsubstantive changes throughout  
            these code sections.  For example, this bill replaces  
            references to terms and phrases such as "including but not  
            limited to" with "including," "utilize" with "use," "may not"  
            with "shall not," and "prior to" with "before."


          Background


          Existing law references throughout various codes deaf or hearing  
          impaired individuals.  According to the National Association of  
          the Deaf (NAD): 


            The deaf and hard of hearing community is diverse.  There are  
            variations in how a person becomes deaf or hard of hearing,  
            level of hearing, age of onset, educational background,  
            communication methods, and cultural identity.  How people  
            "label" or identify themselves is personal and may reflect  
            identification with the deaf and hard of hearing community,  
            the degree to which they can hear, or the relative age of  
            onset.  For example, some people identify themselves as  
            "late-deafened," indicating that they became deaf later in  
            life.  Other people identify themselves as "deaf-blind," which  
            usually indicates that they are deaf or hard of hearing and  
            also have some degree of vision loss.  Some people believe  
            that the term "people with hearing loss" is inclusive and  
            efficient.  However, some people who were born deaf or hard of  
            hearing do not think of themselves as having lost their  
            hearing.  Over the years, the most commonly accepted terms  








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            have come to be "deaf," "Deaf," and "hard of hearing." (NAD,  
            Community and Culture - Frequently Asked Questions  
             
                                                                    Page  4



          Com.:NoLocal:    No


          SUPPORT:   (Verified6/17/16)


          None received


          OPPOSITION:   (Verified6/17/16)


          None received
           
           

          ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  78-0, 5/9/16
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,  
            Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,  
            Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,  
            Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,  
            Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,  
            Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,  
            Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,  
            Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,  
            Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,  
            Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,  
            Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,  
            Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Beth Gaines, Eduardo Garcia


          Prepared by:Ronak Daylami / JUD. / (916) 651-4113
          6/17/16 15:03:39


                                   ****  END  ****


          










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